


This Devil's Workday

by butyoumight



Category: Kamen Rider Gaim
Genre: Alternate Character Interpretation, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-28
Updated: 2014-01-28
Packaged: 2018-01-10 09:10:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1157840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butyoumight/pseuds/butyoumight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>All those people that you know floatin' in the river are logs. Well let's take this potted plant <b>to the woods and set it free</b>. I'm gonna tell the owners just <b>how nice that was of me</b>.</i>
</p><p> </p><p>  <i>I could buy myself a reason, I could sell myself a job. <b>I could hang myself on treason.</b></i></p><p> </p><p>  <i>Oh, I am my own damn god.</i></p><p> </p><p>The real reason Sengoku Ryouma wants the power of a god.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Devil's Workday

**Author's Note:**

> Title and summary taken from the song _This Devil's Workday_ by Modest Mouse. Spoilers up to and including episode 15.

_“The first victim of a Helheim infection was eliminated by test subject zero one.”_

Ryouma pressed two keys, shutting off the camera and microphone, and sat back in his chair with a heavy sigh. Then he turned to pick up the file that had been delivered earlier. 

“Sumii Yuuya.” He said softly to himself. 

There was no more time. The Cracks were appearing more frequently. People were bound to wander in, and then what? His first time in the forest, that had nearly been him. The fruit... He turned his head, staring at the airtight tank that held a section of the vine, complete with four fruit. 

It was nearly impossible to resist. 

“Sumii Yuuya.” He repeated, tapping the file on his desk and then setting it down, standing to pace the length of the lab. 

On his way back, he drew his phone out from the inner pocket of his coat. He only had to press one number to activate the speed dial. 

“It's me.”

“Of course it is. Who else would be answering your phone, Takatora?”

“Well, what do you need, then?”

“Make him get them out faster. He needs to stop being so picky. I want the rest of them distributed within a fortnight.” 

“You're being hasty.”

“And you're not listening to me! Takatora. A boy is dead. Are you really going to try to curtail my research _now_? Just get it done.” He hung up without waiting for a response. He could imagine Takatora's face. 

He also knew he was right. 

He dropped back into his chair, tossing his phone down and then placing a hand over the set aside file and the attached photo, his thumb brushing the harsh red mark next to his birth date: **deceased**.

“Sumii Yuuya. I'm sorry.” 

_“I'm only in charge of developing the belts.”_

Sid was obviously uncomfortable in the lab. His eyes kept darting to one side- towards the tanks that held the unrefined fruits. Of course, they _would_ make him uncomfortable. How easy it would be to break that tank, to let the water flow out with the vine and the fruit, and to sit back and watch him destroy himself. Sid was uncomfortable... Sid was scared. Scared of Helheim. Scared of Ryouma. 

Good.

Ryouma threw the newest subject file across a table at Sid. “Tell me what in the hell is the meaning of that?”

“What ever do you mean?” Sid grumbled, adjusting his hat and avoiding Ryouma's eyes. Ryouma stalked around the table, grabbing the case file up as he went. He snatched at the brim of Sid's idiotic hat and tossed it to the floor before shaking the file in his face.

“I mean _this_. This is not acceptable. This never should have happened. When I said I wanted them distributed more quickly, this is _not_ what I meant!”

“Oh?” Sid drew himself up, but he was still dwarfed, both by Ryouma's superior height and his blazing fury. “Concerned about Takatora's little brother?”

“I could care less.” Ryouma snapped, smacking Sid across the face with the file before throwing it at the floor and turning his back on the despicable man as Sid lifted a hand to press two fingers to the paper cut left on his cheek. 

“He's a _child_.”

“They're all children.” Sid's tone of indifference condensed in Ryouma's stomach, made him feel briefly ill, and then overwhelmingly angry.

“No. They are not. I told you of age, only. I'm quite certain Takatora told you the same. If you were threatened by a sixteen year old _child_ , that's your own problem, but if anything happens to that boy...” He stopped pacing, turned just his head to stare over his shoulder. “If that child dies, it's on your head, Sid. Don't forget it.” 

“Sure, sure.” Sid rolled his eyes. 

“Get the hell out of my lab. And don't let it happen again.”

Sid slammed the door as he left, and Ryouma threw himself down back in front of his computer, calling up the new plans, trying to calm himself by immersing himself in his work. 

There was no _time_. 

He briefly considered telling Takatora... But dismissed the possibility out of hand. It wasn't worth it yet. Kureshima Mitsuzane was on Team Gaim. He had support. He was in no more particular danger than any of the others. And Ryouma needed Takatora to be focused.

_“It'd just cause a panic.”_

Sid was smirking as Takatora walked away. Sagara's eyes were boring into him, even in holographic form. Ryouma stood up and walked away, the opposite direction from where Takatora was going. They all had their little jobs. 

This was getting out of hand. This new infection... Was there any cure? The new Driver... Could it grant them the power to fix this problem? 

Or was his continued research just making everything worse?

Maybe Takatora was right. Maybe the correct thing to do would be to shut it all down. Close the Crack. Evacuate the entire city. Leave it for dead. Let Helheim have it. Protect the people...

No. There had to be a way. Not just to protect the people still alive...

To fix everything. 

_“Hase Ryouji-kun?”_

Ryouma actually let the phone slip from his hand. It clattered to the floor and he had to stoop to pick it back up with shaking fingers that he could barely control. 

He held the phone to his ear again, to hear Takatora sounding nearly frantic. 

“Ryouma? Ryouma!” 

“I'm here.” His voice was soft. He cleared his throat, closed his eyes, pulled the mantle of affected egocentricity tighter around himself. “Another one?”

“It was one of the test subjects.” Takatora sounded genuinely regretful. Pained. Ryouma couldn't blame him, even if he couldn't allow himself to show the same weakness. “The one...”

“Obviously.” Ryouma cut him off. He didn't blame Takatora, not really. The child had been reckless. Violently stupid. He had pressed a confrontation he had no hope of winning. Ryouma had to applaud his still-warm memory- he alone out of any of the test subjects had managed to drive Takatora into a corner. 

Ryouma felt a sick laugh form in his throat. He swallowed it back, along with the tears that were threatening at the corners of his eyes. 

“He's gone, then?”

“Zero one interfered. The Inves got away..." Takatora heaved a heavy sigh. "I have zero two in custody.”

“Bring him in. Then we'll take care of the late zero five.”

Takatora hung up. Ryouma did the same, took a steadying breath, and then threw his phone as hard as he could at the far wall of his lab. 

“Hase Ryouji.” Of course he knew their names. All of them. 

“I'm sorry.” 

_”All I can say is that he was an unfortunate accident.”_

He kept staring at the plans for the new Driver. The third one. The complete Driver. He kept changing everything. Perhaps the seeds didn't need destroying, perhaps they really did need to be nurtured. That was his new angle, and the new plans showed it. Not a knife, not spinning blades. Soil, sunlight, energy. Blooming flowers and spreading leaves. 

Life. 

New life.

Or, old life made new again. 

He heard the door open, the marching feet of the security officers, the more dragging steps of the test subjects. Zero one and zero two. Kazuraba Kouta, Kumon Kaito. 

Would they help him? Probably not. There would have to be a contingency plan in place. But first... To tell them. 

Everything.

_“The power to be omnipotent...”_

Ryouma stared at the screen intently, growling under his breath. That stupid bastard.

He looked over his shoulder. “Minato-kun?” 

She nodded her head, ready to listen to whatever he had to say, do whatever he asked of her. She was perfect.

And she was the only other person in the entire company who knew what Ryouma was planning.

“Get down there and stop him before he kills those kids.” 

“Of course, Professor Ryouma.” 

She left the lab, and he sat back in his chair again. He didn't have to watch the screen anymore, he knew how it would play out. Sid was brutal and vicious, but he didn't stand a chance in a direct confrontation with Minato-kun. 

After taking a moment to breathe, he stood up again. Crossed to the bulletin board he had on the far wall of his lab, in the corner, out of the way, where no one would bother questioning it. Some obscure part of his data collection, no doubt. 

The pictures from the files Sid had had delivered to him- Sumii Yuuya and Hase Ryouji. Tacked on either side of the drawing he'd done, the sketch of what he thought a new Driver could look like. Above, another picture- a workman for whom he had no name. He was another victim of Helheim. 

Ryouma put his hand on the drawing, over the center where the Lockseed would be planted.

“If I can... No. I _will_. I will do it. I'll bring you all back.” 

_“The power to be a god.”_


End file.
